Documentation / git-grep.txton commit Sync with 1.7.6.6 (d0482e8)
   1git-grep(1)
   2===========
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git-grep - Print lines matching a pattern
   7
   8
   9SYNOPSIS
  10--------
  11[verse]
  12'git grep' [-a | --text] [-I] [-i | --ignore-case] [-w | --word-regexp]
  13           [-v | --invert-match] [-h|-H] [--full-name]
  14           [-E | --extended-regexp] [-G | --basic-regexp]
  15           [-P | --perl-regexp]
  16           [-F | --fixed-strings] [-n | --line-number]
  17           [-l | --files-with-matches] [-L | --files-without-match]
  18           [(-O | --open-files-in-pager) [<pager>]]
  19           [-z | --null]
  20           [-c | --count] [--all-match] [-q | --quiet]
  21           [--max-depth <depth>]
  22           [--color[=<when>] | --no-color]
  23           [-A <post-context>] [-B <pre-context>] [-C <context>]
  24           [-f <file>] [-e] <pattern>
  25           [--and|--or|--not|(|)|-e <pattern>...]
  26           [ [--exclude-standard] [--cached | --no-index | --untracked] | <tree>...]
  27           [--] [<pathspec>...]
  28
  29DESCRIPTION
  30-----------
  31Look for specified patterns in the tracked files in the work tree, blobs
  32registered in the index file, or blobs in given tree objects.
  33
  34
  35CONFIGURATION
  36-------------
  37
  38grep.lineNumber::
  39        If set to true, enable '-n' option by default.
  40
  41grep.extendedRegexp::
  42        If set to true, enable '--extended-regexp' option by default.
  43
  44
  45OPTIONS
  46-------
  47--cached::
  48        Instead of searching tracked files in the working tree, search
  49        blobs registered in the index file.
  50
  51--no-index::
  52        Search files in the current directory that is not managed by git.
  53
  54--untracked::
  55        In addition to searching in the tracked files in the working
  56        tree, search also in untracked files.
  57
  58--no-exclude-standard::
  59        Also search in ignored files by not honoring the `.gitignore`
  60        mechanism. Only useful with `--untracked`.
  61
  62--exclude-standard::
  63        Do not pay attention to ignored files specified via the `.gitignore`
  64        mechanism.  Only useful when searching files in the current directory
  65        with `--no-index`.
  66
  67-a::
  68--text::
  69        Process binary files as if they were text.
  70
  71-i::
  72--ignore-case::
  73        Ignore case differences between the patterns and the
  74        files.
  75
  76-I::
  77        Don't match the pattern in binary files.
  78
  79--max-depth <depth>::
  80        For each <pathspec> given on command line, descend at most <depth>
  81        levels of directories. A negative value means no limit.
  82
  83-w::
  84--word-regexp::
  85        Match the pattern only at word boundary (either begin at the
  86        beginning of a line, or preceded by a non-word character; end at
  87        the end of a line or followed by a non-word character).
  88
  89-v::
  90--invert-match::
  91        Select non-matching lines.
  92
  93-h::
  94-H::
  95        By default, the command shows the filename for each
  96        match.  `-h` option is used to suppress this output.
  97        `-H` is there for completeness and does not do anything
  98        except it overrides `-h` given earlier on the command
  99        line.
 100
 101--full-name::
 102        When run from a subdirectory, the command usually
 103        outputs paths relative to the current directory.  This
 104        option forces paths to be output relative to the project
 105        top directory.
 106
 107-E::
 108--extended-regexp::
 109-G::
 110--basic-regexp::
 111        Use POSIX extended/basic regexp for patterns.  Default
 112        is to use basic regexp.
 113
 114-P::
 115--perl-regexp::
 116        Use Perl-compatible regexp for patterns. Requires libpcre to be
 117        compiled in.
 118
 119-F::
 120--fixed-strings::
 121        Use fixed strings for patterns (don't interpret pattern
 122        as a regex).
 123
 124-n::
 125--line-number::
 126        Prefix the line number to matching lines.
 127
 128-l::
 129--files-with-matches::
 130--name-only::
 131-L::
 132--files-without-match::
 133        Instead of showing every matched line, show only the
 134        names of files that contain (or do not contain) matches.
 135        For better compatibility with 'git diff', `--name-only` is a
 136        synonym for `--files-with-matches`.
 137
 138-O [<pager>]::
 139--open-files-in-pager [<pager>]::
 140        Open the matching files in the pager (not the output of 'grep').
 141        If the pager happens to be "less" or "vi", and the user
 142        specified only one pattern, the first file is positioned at
 143        the first match automatically.
 144
 145-z::
 146--null::
 147        Output \0 instead of the character that normally follows a
 148        file name.
 149
 150-c::
 151--count::
 152        Instead of showing every matched line, show the number of
 153        lines that match.
 154
 155--color[=<when>]::
 156        Show colored matches.
 157        The value must be always (the default), never, or auto.
 158
 159--no-color::
 160        Turn off match highlighting, even when the configuration file
 161        gives the default to color output.
 162        Same as `--color=never`.
 163
 164--break::
 165        Print an empty line between matches from different files.
 166
 167--heading::
 168        Show the filename above the matches in that file instead of
 169        at the start of each shown line.
 170
 171-p::
 172--show-function::
 173        Show the preceding line that contains the function name of
 174        the match, unless the matching line is a function name itself.
 175        The name is determined in the same way as 'git diff' works out
 176        patch hunk headers (see 'Defining a custom hunk-header' in
 177        linkgit:gitattributes[5]).
 178
 179-<num>::
 180-C <num>::
 181--context <num>::
 182        Show <num> leading and trailing lines, and place a line
 183        containing `--` between contiguous groups of matches.
 184
 185-A <num>::
 186--after-context <num>::
 187        Show <num> trailing lines, and place a line containing
 188        `--` between contiguous groups of matches.
 189
 190-B <num>::
 191--before-context <num>::
 192        Show <num> leading lines, and place a line containing
 193        `--` between contiguous groups of matches.
 194
 195-W::
 196--function-context::
 197        Show the surrounding text from the previous line containing a
 198        function name up to the one before the next function name,
 199        effectively showing the whole function in which the match was
 200        found.
 201
 202-f <file>::
 203        Read patterns from <file>, one per line.
 204
 205-e::
 206        The next parameter is the pattern. This option has to be
 207        used for patterns starting with `-` and should be used in
 208        scripts passing user input to grep.  Multiple patterns are
 209        combined by 'or'.
 210
 211--and::
 212--or::
 213--not::
 214( ... )::
 215        Specify how multiple patterns are combined using Boolean
 216        expressions.  `--or` is the default operator.  `--and` has
 217        higher precedence than `--or`.  `-e` has to be used for all
 218        patterns.
 219
 220--all-match::
 221        When giving multiple pattern expressions combined with `--or`,
 222        this flag is specified to limit the match to files that
 223        have lines to match all of them.
 224
 225-q::
 226--quiet::
 227        Do not output matched lines; instead, exit with status 0 when
 228        there is a match and with non-zero status when there isn't.
 229
 230<tree>...::
 231        Instead of searching tracked files in the working tree, search
 232        blobs in the given trees.
 233
 234\--::
 235        Signals the end of options; the rest of the parameters
 236        are <pathspec> limiters.
 237
 238<pathspec>...::
 239        If given, limit the search to paths matching at least one pattern.
 240        Both leading paths match and glob(7) patterns are supported.
 241
 242Examples
 243--------
 244
 245`git grep {apostrophe}time_t{apostrophe} \-- {apostrophe}*.[ch]{apostrophe}`::
 246        Looks for `time_t` in all tracked .c and .h files in the working
 247        directory and its subdirectories.
 248
 249`git grep -e {apostrophe}#define{apostrophe} --and \( -e MAX_PATH -e PATH_MAX \)`::
 250        Looks for a line that has `#define` and either `MAX_PATH` or
 251        `PATH_MAX`.
 252
 253`git grep --all-match -e NODE -e Unexpected`::
 254        Looks for a line that has `NODE` or `Unexpected` in
 255        files that have lines that match both.
 256
 257GIT
 258---
 259Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite